What are the important elements that need to be considered, when designing and implementing EOSC onboarding policies? This practical course translates Federation requirements into actionable guidelines and workflows for publications, data, training material, and software. It also addresses other relevant important aspects such as technical integration, FAIR principles, and quality standards to ensure resources are discoverable and re-usable, and provides the expertise to align concrete onboarding practices with the EOSC Federation’s best practices.
Course summary
This course provides a practical introduction to designing and implementing an effective onboarding services policy within the EOSC context. Participants will gain a structured understanding of the research resource landscape, including publications, data, software, services, training, and interoperability guidelines, alongside the key quality criteria, FAIR principles, and eligibility requirements that govern their inclusion in EOSC.
The course explores how different types of research resources, such as open access publications, FAIR-compliant data sources, research software, and virtual research environments, are onboarded, described, and maintained. It highlights essential considerations like trustworthy repositories, metadata standards, version control, and integration into research workflows, ensuring resources are discoverable, reusable, and aligned with EOSC best practices.
Participants will also learn how to design onboarding processes and workflows, including resource provider engagement, technical integration, quality assurance checkpoints, and approval procedures. The course covers the importance of service cataloguing, documentation, and metadata standards to enhance resource discoverability and usability across EOSC.
In addition, the training addresses technical and organisational aspects such as interoperability guidelines, API and software documentation, and continuous quality monitoring. Emphasis is placed on ensuring services meet minimum quality thresholds (e.g., TRL 7) and are supported by clear communication, user guidance, and feedback mechanisms.
By the end of the course, learners will be equipped to develop onboarding policies or guidelines that:
- Align with EOSC Federation principles and the FAIR framework
- Provide practical, user-oriented guidance (e.g., templates, checklists, workflows)
- Support consistent, high-quality onboarding of research resources and services
The course prioritises hands-on, actionable knowledge, enabling participants to translate high-level EOSC requirements into concrete onboarding practices.
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Explain the key concepts and requirements for onboarding research resources and services within EOSC;
- Identify and differentiate between types of research resources and their onboarding implications;
- Apply FAIR principles and quality criteria to assess resource eligibility for onboarding;
- Design a structured onboarding workflow, including technical integration, validation, and approval steps;
- Develop clear service descriptions, metadata, and documentation to support discoverability and reuse;
- Get familiar with interoperability standards and best practices to ensure compatibility across EOSC services;
- Define quality assurance measures and service requirements (e.g., performance, maturity levels).
Contributors
Eleni Toli
Athena RC
Elli Papadopoulou
Athena RC
Maria Kontopidi
Athena RC
Modules of this course
Module 1: Research resources overview and Resource discovery
40 Minutes
This module translates the generic reference guidance provided by the EOSC Federation Handbook into applicable knowledge for EOSC stakeholders developing onboarding policies. The module provides an overview of research resource types and categories that are expected to be made available by an EOSC Node, and that may be integrated in the EOSC Federation. It explains the categories of core resources, such as research publications, research data sources, research data, research software, and services and tools. It also introduces eligibility criteria for inclusion in the EOSC Federation and presents resource discovery mechanisms. Finally, it describes how all the above relate to the very core aim of EOSC to be a web of FAIR data and services.
Module 2: Onboarding Processes and Workflows
60 Minutes
This module outlines the lifecycle of research resources as they join the EOSC Federation through autonomous Nodes. It provides a practical guide to step-by-step onboarding procedures, where resource providers engage with the most appropriate thematic or national Node to align with federated governance. Participants will explore technical integration requirements, including compliance with the EOSC Interoperability Framework (EOSC IF) and the use of Authentication and Authorisation for Research and Collaboration Blueprint-compliant AAI proxies. The module further details the quality assurance checkpoints Nodes use to verify adherence to the EOSC Rules of Participation, followed by the approval and publication workflows that aggregate resource metadata into the central Resource Hub for global discovery.
Module 3: Service Cataloguing and Documentation. Technical Documentation and Standards
60 Minutes
This module provides a technical and procedural framework for ensuring that federated resources are properly described, discoverable, and interoperable across the EOSC Federation. It consists of three main building blocks: first, it demonstrates the service catalogue structure. Participants will explore the hierarchical structure where autonomous EOSC Nodes operate local catalogues that aggregate metadata into the central Resource Hub hosted by the EOSC EU Node. Then it analyses the metadata requirements, detailing the mandatory metadata descriptions and profiles required for service registration, emphasising the use of rich metadata and PIDs to satisfy FAIR principles for findability. Finally, it provides an overview in relation to technical documentation and standards, focusing on the implementation of open APIs and metadata schemas that connect Node services to Federating Capabilities. This includes adherence to the EOSC Interoperability Framework (IF) and specific guidelines such as the Research Software Metadata Guidelines (RSMD) for documenting source code and computational workflows.
Module 4: Quality Assurance and Testing. Service Communication and User Guidance
40 Minutes
This module focuses on aspects that are important for maintaining high-quality service delivery and ensuring transparent communication with researchers across the Federation. Participants will get familiar with quality assurance and testing mechanisms. They will explore FitSM-based Service Management Systems and Service Monitoring tools used to verify that resources meet the quality standards defined by the EOSC Rules of Participation. Technical testing covers mandatory cybersecurity assessments, including vulnerability scans and risk-based monitoring, to ensure a secure environment. The module also details how to communicate service value and limitations through rich metadata in the Resource Hub and documented User Access Policies. It also covers the Federated Helpdesk framework, which provides a coordinated support channel to help researchers navigate cross-node use cases.
Course length
For the self-paced part of the course, approximately 3 hours. The course will also be complemented by an online session.
Audience
- Researchers and service developers, EOSC Gravity grantees
- Research infrastructure and service providers, EOSC Gravity grantees
- Node Coordinators, EOSC Gravity grantees
- OS trainers & competence centres, EOSC Gravity grantees
Keywords
EOSC Onboarding, Research Services Policy, FAIR Principles, Service Cataloguing, Interoperability Standards, Quality Assurance, Research Data & Services, Node Coordinators
